The present invention relates generally to broadband antennas, and specifically to a Mono-Blade Dispersionless Antenna with multi-decade bandwidth (100 to 1).
Modern aircraft contain many separate antennas operating over many frequency bands. An example is the F-111 aircraft which has over 100 separate antennas. If a single antenna could be found that operates over many octaves of bandwidth, the new antenna could replace many of the antennas onboard these aircraft and result in savings in antennas cost, cabling cost, and maintenance cost.
The task of providing a single antenna which operates over many spans of bandwidth is alleviated, to some extent, by the systems of the following U.S. Patents, which are incorporated herein by reference:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,127 issued to D. J. Richard on Jul. 25, 1972;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,101 issued to E. Turner et al on Dec. 26, 1961
U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,465 issued to; Andre et al on Apr. 28, 1970; and
U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,104 issued to; L. Behr on Nov. 2, 1971.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,104 discloses a broadband low-profile circularly polarized antenna having a form factor comprising a cornucopia-shaped element. U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,465 discloses a tunnel diode amplifier integrated into a printed circuit equiangular spiral antenna in which the antenna elements are used as a portion of the amplifier transmission line.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,127 discloses a tunable omni-directional antenna having two loaded, concentric, semicircular radiating members, U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,101 discloses a coplanar equiangular stub antenna with a folded over shorted base, the general configuration being that of a scimitar blade.
While the systems described above are exemplary in the art, the need remains to provide a multi-octave antenna element. The present invention is intended to satisfy that need.
The present invention comprises a Mono-Blade Dispersionless Antenna with a multi-decade bandwidth (100 to 1). The Mono-Blade Antenna consists of a metal blade element above a ground plane. The tip of the blade element is approximately a constant radius arc with the radius of the arc determining the surge impedance of the antenna. The Mono-Blade Antenna is fed with a coaxial transmission line which is secured to the ground plane.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a broadband antenna which transmits and receives multi-octave electromagnetic energy.
It is another object of the present invention to replace a number of different antennas with a single Mono-Blade Antenna which has multi-decade bandwidth.
These objects together with other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like elements are given like reference numerals throughout.